Granier was notified of the judge's decision at 9:45 p.m. on Monday in the infirmary of the Mexico City where he was taken on June 25.

Another judge, Olga Sanchez Contreras, must still decide whether Granier, who governed Tabasco from 2007 to 2012, will also have to face fraud charges.

Granier, a member of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, contends he is a victim of "poltical persecution" at the hands of his successor, Arturo Nuñez.

Gov. Nuñez, who belongs to the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, said on Feb. 22 that an audit of the Granier administration found 1.91 billion pesos ($145 million) was missing.

Granier said in a television interview last month in the United States that he did not break the law.

"I want to repeat and make it very clear that I am innocent and I am going to show it," Granier said on Televisa's Primero Noticias show.

The former governor told Televisa he moved to Miami for health reasons and not to avoid Mexican prosecutors, who ordered him to answer questions on May 30 about alleged misuse of public funds during his term.

Granier, however, failed to show up for the meeting with investigators. EFE